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US Tightens Gun Import Rules For Visitors

(posted February 14, 2002)

With virtually no warning, the US Treasury Department's Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) has pushed through a temporary
rule requiring visitors to secure an import permit for all firearms
they bring into the country. The temporary rule goes into effect
next Tuesday, February 19. Since import permits are expected to
take four to six weeks to be issued, the rule effectively bars visitors
from bringing guns into the US for at least the next month. This
is of immediate importance to visitors who planned to bring guns
with them to the Safari Club International Convention in Las Vegas
next month.

The new rule implements a 1998 law that prohibits possession or
purchase of firearms by most non-immigrant aliens such as tourists,
students and temporary workers. There are exemptions to the gun
ban for visiting hunters and shooters, and for participants in trade
shows, but exempted individuals will have to provide some kind of
proof that they fit the category of exempted individuals before
they will be issued an Import Permit. A US hunting license is expected
to be sufficient proof for visiting hunters.

As this is written, we have not been able to speak with anyone
on the senior level at the Import Branch of BATF to see if visiting
shooters and hunters who have already bought plane tickets to the
US would be granted any leeway. We were simply told repeatedly that
"...everyone is in conference."

Our on-the-spot advice this morning to affected hunters and shooters
is to assume that the Import Permit requirement will indeed be implemented
next Tuesday. Barring word to the contrary, non-immigrant aliens
should not attempt to bring firearms with them into the US until
or unless they secure an Import Permit to do so. Affected would-be
visitors who want to plead their case, or begin the process of securing
an Import Permit, should call the Import Branch of BATF at: 202-927-8320.

We are following this issue closely and will have an update shortly.
- Don Causey, Editor/Publisher.

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